Monica Robles’s name stands as a testament to dedication, commitment, and exceptional leadership, as she was honoured as one of the “Most Inspiring Women Leaders to Watch 2025” by The CEO Views. Founder & President of Heart Centered Leadership Coaching & Consulting Group, Monica Robles’s leadership journey is an inspiring story of self-discovery as a leader and becoming the guiding light for women who aspire to become one. As she sat down with us to share some glimpses and anecdotes of her life as a leader, we were amazed to hear about the incredible journey she took to get to the position she is in today.
Finding Her True Self
While asked about what inspired her to take on a leadership role, Monica gave us the most amazing answer ever, “My inspiration came after the fact that I was not aware that I was a leader.” She had been supporting the development of leaders for 14 years, and it’s interesting to know that she remained unaware of her own leadership abilities.
In this context, Monica shared an interesting anecdote from her journey. In 2015, she was looking for options after she transitioned from the corporate world, and this is when she came across the John Maxwell Team (JMT). While talking with Robert Kittridge, the Director of JMT, he addressed her as a leader as she denied being one, emphasizing her role as serving personnel as she volunteers for the local Chambers of Commerce, as the West Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (WMHCCD), Orange County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce, and other organizations. It was not until that moment that she realized she was not even aware she was a leader.
This took her to cloud nine as she discovered her mission in life, propelling her to immediately sign up with JMT and start her journey to find her own leadership. Monica proudly mentioned, “But it wasn’t until I went through the process to become an International Certified Coach, Public Speaker & Trainer with the John Maxwell Team that my awareness increased, and that was a pivotal moment in my life.”
A Tapestry of Knowledge
Monica upholds a tapestry of knowledge and skills that has shaped her leadership journey and contributed to her professional excellence. When she moved from Mexico to the USA, she joined Jafra Cosmetics International as a Regional Sales Manager, in the USA. She learned about the “Hispanic Market” that this company was serving by motivating women to become leaders, following their compensation plan. Since then, Monica has been supporting the community through the different positions she held.
She has over 30 years of experience providing professional development, team effectiveness, and leadership development training to all organizational levels. Throughout her professional career, Monica served as a Regional Sales Manager, National Training Manager, & US General Manager for the Hispanic Initiatives of various International Companies, such as Jafra, Arbonne, Amway, MONAT, and others. She has also excelled at MLM/Direct Selling/Party Plan Business Models for over 15 years.
Against all Odds
Monica’s journey against all odds was an extraordinary one while she was offering free workshops at the Mexican Consulate in Santa Ana, CA for the “Leadership Awareness” program. She found it challenging to convince the Spanish women suffering from domestic violence to leave their aggressor if they open their own businesses and became financially independent. Monica’s approach to dissecting the Business Plan and embedding the areas of empowerment and leadership development while convincing them was a giving birth to the Emprendedor@s Program. With this free of charge program, she intended to create community value by interviewing interested people to help them navigate through it.
Although launching the program was not difficult, as such a program in Spanish was in demand. However, dealing with the unscrupulous people along the way was the real challenge. An organization approached to collaborate with her Emprendedor@s program. She was misled into signing a contract that required the transfer of intellectual property, which she did not do.
While fighting against all odds, Monica launched “the Asociacion de Emprendedor@s” to help the Hispanic community grow their microbusiness. Despite the conflict of interests she faced, Monica rose against all odds to help her community grow stronger.
A Success Story Worth Mentioning
With the program, Monica transformed many students and their perspectives towards their profession through the “Elevator Speech.” One of her 20-year-old students, Ofelia Calderon, would always say that she is a seamstress and creates bathing suits for women for a Hollywood-based company in CA, completely unaware of her role as a fashion designer and not a seamstress. However, with Monica’s efforts, slowly and gradually she changed her perception of herself, resigning her abusive job at the end of the program. Today, she is a well-known international Fashion Designer, with her work being displayed in New York, Atlanta, Paris, and several other places globally under her brand name, “Ofelia Dress Designs.”
Measuring the Metrics
The impact of the Emprendedor@s program has been a remarkable one as it facilitated internal transformation of participants, increased their leadership awareness, and fostered better communication. Participants feel more empowered, high on self-esteem, and develop their leadership skills effectively. It is through surveys that Monica’s team documents their opinions about the program to know its impact on their lives.
“We also provide 1:1 business consulting service that supports their empowerment and help them officially register their business, complying with the legal requirements from the City, County, State, & Federal Government,” adds Monica. She takes great pride in transforming the lives of the students who undertake the program.
Plans of Expansion
The Emprendedor@s Program intends to expand to other regions to drive meaningful impact across other communities. Presently, it has been approached by the Latino Community Foundation to bring the program to Imperial Valley County by the 3rd quarter of the year. It has also been invited to bring to the Ventura County residents. At this point, Monica is creating the program to teach people about how to deliver it properly.
Service, harmony, balance, responsibility, integrity & respect are among other values that are very important to me.